Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: Random COMPANY question | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 10:57 am EDT 07/06/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Random COMPANY question - andyboy 09:21 am EDT 07/06/20 | |
|
|
|
| "Another case of the book to a Sondheim show being monkeyed with over time (and in my opinion made a little weaker) when the original version was perfectly fine (don't even get me started on the watering down of the book to FOLLIES over the years...). I agree with you in almost every case I can think of except FOLLIES. I'm not talking about the big changes for the London production, which I abhor. But in my opinion, the elimination in some revivals of some of the more purple, more explicit, nastier and more melodramatic lines from the original -- Phyllis's line about her panties, Sally's line about her suicide attempt(s), etc. -- improves the show considerably, because as written, it's just a little too much severe negativity, angst, and bitterness too much of the time. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Random COMPANY question | |
| Posted by: andyboy 05:44 pm EDT 07/06/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Random COMPANY question - Michael_Portantiere 10:57 am EDT 07/06/20 | |
|
|
|
| Gosh, I like all that stuff, haha. For me, the original dialogue had more in common with the heightened language one might find in an Albee play than the standard librettos of the day, and it subtly signaled that what you were watching wasn't quite realistic while also preparing you (if anything could) for the surrealistic climax. In place of "likable" characters, you were given theatrical audacity and mystery. And I feel with each revision, as mystery has been sacrificed for clarity, the piece has revealed that perhaps these characters aren't quite worth the time we had originally afforded them. Truth be told, I'm not sure the creators were ever that interested in doing a show about these people and their personal problems as much as they were enjoying assembling an exercise in extremely captivating style. And I think the opacity, archness, and artifice of the original sold that idea better than what followed. | |
| reply to this message |
Time to render: 0.007987 seconds.